> Ridgewood Schools are replacing three elementary school Spanish teachers with Rosetta Stone an interactive computer program that cost $70,000, is less than half their combined salaries.
From their website :“The Rosetta Stone method unlocks your natural ability to learn a language. Even if you’ve tried and failed with other methods before, you’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll learn with our method. Learn naturally with no translation or memorization. Engage interactively and stay motivated with a range of activities and exercises. Speak confidently and build your conversational skills using our speech recognition software. Have fun—our program makes language learning accessible and enjoyable.”
>On the heels of reports that provisions were not made for media coverage of last Wednesday evening’s Village Council meeting, it is now being rumored that Acting Village Manager Heather A. Mailander didn’t even make arrangements for persons listed on the meeting agenda as presenters to gain access into the Sydney V. Stoldt, Jr. Courtroom.
What next? Will Ms. Mailander order Village Hall to be completely locked down on Village Council meeting nights?
Get it together Village Council! This is not rocket science. Figure out how to accommodate everyone who wishes to attend, and figure it out friggin’ fast.
St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church 169 Fairmount Road, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 Tel: (201) 444-2299 Fax:(201) 444-0007
Men in Transition Fellowship Group
During the first several months of 2009, we have created a supportive, focused, and positive group of men dealing with the challenges of our current economy. The sessions occur every Monday morning beginning with Morning Prayer at 8:30 am-8:50 am, followed by a structured workshop from 9:00 am – 10:30 am. The workshop sessions enable participants to seek specific help and guidance from fellow members. This includes networking, coaching, and tools to help in the transition process. It is very difficult to stay focused and positive while attempting to reinvent yourself and seeking a new opportunity in your life. Speak with other members and have them share their experience or contact Paul Anovick, or Andy Strauss. As several participants have shared with me, in attending these sessions they are aware that they are not alone.
>Agostinelli & Bombace Unveil Plan to Reform New Jersey’s Educational System
‘Plan will reform how tax dollars are distributed and make public schools more efficient and effective’
Ridgewood, NJ – With schools across New Jersey beginning their new academic year, John Agostinelli and Mark Bombace today released their new educational model to bring about the change and accountability our families need. This new plan will reform our public school system to spend 40th District tax dollars more effectively and efficiently, while ensuring a better result for all our children.
“Providing our children with an education is the most important thing we can give to them the best chance to get ahead in life,” stated Bombace, a former President of the Ridgewood Board of Education. “However, simply throwing money at the problem is not the answer to reforming New Jersey’s public schools. We need to reshape our policy, and this white paper is a good first step to bringing new ideas to the table. We must rethink how we approach educating our children, and I will work to implement my plan as a way to save tax dollars and improve performance for all our students.”
The attached Education Policy Paper is authored by Mark Bombace. It will be the first in a series of policy proposals that the Agostinelli & Bombace campaign will unveil to let 40th District voters know exactly where they stand on the issues, as well as their plans on what they’ll do once the voters send this new team to Trenton.
“New Jersey’s educational system is intrinsically linked with how high our tax dollars have become, and the only way to lower taxes is to address how we spend money on our public schools,” said Agostinelli. “The biggest expenditure of property taxes is on education, and without a sound policy to address these costs, New Jersey’s property tax problem will never be addressed. Career Politicians Scott Rumana and Dave Russo have failed to offer any plans to reform our schools just as they’ve failed to provide the leadership we need in the State Assembly.”
“John Agostinelli and Mark Bombace are running a campaign on the issues, and with their education white paper they’re letting the voters know exactly the type of reform and new ideas they will champion when they are sent to Trenton.” stated Campaign Manager Jim Tighe. “On the other hand, Trenton Insiders Scott Rumana and Dave Russo have stonewalled their constituents with their lack of accountability. We hope the incumbents have enough respect for their constituents to engage John and Mark in the 6 debates we’ve challenged them to – so the voters can see a real dialogue on the issues.”
Election Day is Tuesday November 3rd, 2009. The 40th Legislative District encompasses parts of Bergen, Essex, and Passaic Counties, including the following towns: Cedar Grove Township, Franklin Lakes Borough, Little Falls Township, Mahwah Township, Midland Park Borough, Oakland Borough, Ridgewood Village, Ringwood Borough, Verona Township, Wanaque Borough, Wayne Township, and Wyckoff Township.
For more information, please visit www.40thDistrict.com
>“The National Endowment for the Arts initiated a “call to action” earlier this month for members of the art community to push President Obama’s recovery agency through works that focus on health care, energy and the environment — a troubling sign, one artist said. “
>Citing the need to avoid overcrowding because of fire code regulations, Village Council members directed police and fire personnel to deny selected representatives of local print media organizations access to the Sydney V. Stoldt, Jr. Courtroom during last night’s Village Council meeting.
One (1) reporter and one (1) photographer from The Ridgewood News who arrived prior to 6:30 PM were the only media representatives allowed into the courtroom to watch the proceedings “live and in person.”
Other reporters from The Record, Villadom Times, and The Ridgewood News were instead directed to view the session’s progress on closed circuit television monitors located in first floor meeting rooms at Village Hall.
The Fly wonders why the media was locked out when any Village Hall employees who wanted to wander in and out of the courtroom during the meeting were permitted to do so without regard to the supposed “room occupancy limit.”
Nice way to keep the media on your side ladies and gentlemen. Why didn’t you just suck it up and let the press in and keep the non-essential Village Hall employees out?
> Since the both the Candidates and the local media are fixated on “driving records” and how “candidates payed off their mistresses” ,we have decided to outline the issues for the New Jersey Governors Race and perhaps by November someone; local media or Candidate may make some kind of an effort to address them.
the Ridgewood Blog
New Jersey Governors Race : Terrible State Business Climate
ISSUE # 2 Raising Forclosure Risk
N.J. foreclosure risk rose in Aug. Thursday, September 10, 2009 BY KATHLEEN LYNN The Record STAFF WRITER
https://www.northjersey.com/news/58358012.html
The number of New Jersey households at risk of losing their homes rose last month, according to RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks the foreclosure market.
Foreclosure filings in New Jersey jumped 28 percent in August, compared with a year earlier, RealtyTrac said Wednesday. One in every 421 households in the state faced some sort of foreclosure filing during the month, ranging from a bank notice that they’re late on mortgage payments all the way up to sale at sheriff’s auction.
Earlier this year, foreclosure filings had slowed in New Jersey, apparently in response to state programs aimed at helping troubled homeowners. But it now appears that many of those efforts only delayed the foreclosures, rather than solve the underlying problems.
> Since the both the Candidates and the local media are fixated on “driving records” and how “candidates payed off their mistresses” ,we have decided to outline the issues for the New Jersey Governors Race and perhaps by November someone; local media or Candidate may make some kind of an effort to address them.
the Ridgewood Blog
ISSUE #1 Terrible State Business Climate
“The Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation ranked New Jersey last overall in a 2008 overview of state business climates. The state’s corporate tax rate ranked 39th, its individual income tax ranked 48th and its property taxes ranked 50th.”
“Taxes that drive businesses and residents out of state, regulations hampering companies that do locate here and salary and pension habits that block government cost cutting — those are some of the ingredients of an unaffordable cocktail New Jersey is serving its inhabitants, according to local business and government leaders.”
Assemblywoman Denise Coyle said she believes a turning point in the state’s affordability came in 2004 with the so-called Millionaire’s Tax. Implemented under then Gov. James McGreevey, that gross income tax of 8.97 percent applied to residents with a taxable income of $500,000 or more. Coyle added that the tax was supposed to help fund the Homestead Rebate Program, which has now been drastically cut.
“People are fleeing the state, businesses are fleeing the state,” Assemblywoman Denise Coyle, R-Bernards said.
>We’re on TV! See our interview on News 12 (Cablevision) throughout the day. Subscribers can watch online at www.news12.com.
Come to our presentation at the Village Council meeting tomorrow, Wed., Sept. 9, 7:30PM, 4th-floor courtroom, Village Hall, 131 N. Maple Ave. To be in the 80-seat room itself, come very early. Overflow will be directed to another room with closed-circuit TV.
What to wear: 1. Anything not blue because “Fix Graydon Now” will be wearing blue. We’ll provide our beautiful stickers. 2. A Graydon badge if you have one (any year, any person).
Need a babysitter so you can come to the meeting? Write to The Preserve Graydon Babysitting Brigade! Usual rates.
Please sign our online petition if you haven’t already. For paper petitions, deliver to Irish Eyes, 1 Cottage Pl. (corner of E. Ridgewood Ave., across from the movie theater). Hours: 10-6. If you can’t make it during those hours, please call petition coordinator Pat Hensley, 201-280-1046.
Swimmingly, Suzanne Kelly and Marcia Ringel Co-Chairs, The Preserve Graydon Coalition “It’s clear—we love Graydon!” [email protected] www.PreserveGraydon.org
> Having both worked in the ground zero area and having lost so many friends and neighbors we find the use of 9/11 images to promote nationalised medicine extremely offensive .
President Obama has picked the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history to launch a campaign calling on senators to pass a public healthcare option by fighting back against “our own right-wing domestic terrorists.”
The phone campaign, which will begin on September 11, also suggests that those who oppose the president’s health care plan are the heirs of Osama bin Laden. The White House pulled the plan’s details from Obama’s Organizing for America website after a conservative columnist wrote about it this week, but the text can still be viewed in the story.
The plan directs Obama’s grassroots supporters to wage a coordinated healthcare reform effort by calling their U.S. Senators on September 11 to “fight back against our own Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists who are subverting the American Democratic Process, whipped to frenzy by their Fox Propaganda Network ceaselessly re-seizing power for their treacherous leaders.”
It proceeds to encourage supporters to defeat the anti democratic forces of hate who conspire to remain healthy and wealthy while the public languishes under the burden of our present health care system. “Reclaim our land from the heirs of, yes: Bin Laden.”
Essentially the president of the United States has designated the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in the nation’s history to liken those who oppose his plans to deadly Middle Eastern terrorists. Talk about pathetically poor taste.
>My questions: WHY our Council hasn’t done so as the other Councils did? Isn’t Ridgewood, va the Valley, directly linked to this??
The REQUEST DEADLINE IS TOMORROW AT 10 AM!!
Votes set on reopening of hospital Thursday, August 20, 2009 The Record
Many towns in northeastern Bergen County will have a non-binding ballot question in November about the reopening of Pascack Valley Hospital.
Councils in 11 towns — River Vale, Park Ridge, Montvale, Oradell, Hillsdale, Washington Township, Old Tappan, Northvale, Harrington Park, Emerson and Westwood — have approved resolutions asking for the ballot question. Closter was to hold a special meeting about it Wednesday night.
The question asks whether voters favor the expenditure of “resources through the attendance and participation at public hearings or other proceedings by municipal officials in support of the application” by Hackensack University Medical Center to reopen the Westwood site as a 128-bed community hospital.
The deadline for the towns to request the addition to the ballot is Friday at 10 a.m.
